DOCSLIB.ORG

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Epicurus

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Epicurus 03/05/2017 Epicurus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Epicurus First published Mon Jan 10, 2005; substantive revision Sun Apr 20, 2014 The philosophy of Epicurus (341–270 B.C.E.) was a complete and interdependent system, involving a view of the goal of human life (happiness, resulting from absence of physical pain and mental disturbance), an empiricist theory of knowledge (sensations, together with the perception of pleasure and pain, are infallible criteria), a description of nature based on atomistic materialism, and a naturalistic account of evolution, from the formation of the world to the emergence of human societies. Epicurus believed that, on the basis of a radical materialism which dispensed with transcendent entities such as the Platonic Ideas or Forms, he could disprove the possibility of the soul's survival after death, and hence the prospect of punishment in the afterlife. He regarded the unacknowledged fear of death and punishment as the primary cause of anxiety among human beings, and anxiety in turn as the source of extreme and irrational desires. The elimination of the fears and corresponding desires would leave people free to pursue the pleasures, both physical and mental, to which they are naturally drawn, and to enjoy the peace of mind that is consequent upon their regularly expected and achieved satisfaction. It remained to explain how irrational fears arose in the first place: hence the importance of an account of social evolution. Epicurus was aware that deeply ingrained habits of thought are not easily corrected, and thus he proposed various exercises to assist the novice. His system included advice on the proper attitude toward politics (avoid it where possible) and the gods (do not imagine that they concern themselves about human beings and their behavior), the role of sex (dubious), marriage (also dubious) and friendship (essential), reflections on the nature of various meteorological and planetary phenomena, about which it was best to keep an open mind in the absence of decisive verification, and explanations of such processes as gravity and magnetism, which posed considerable challenges to the ingenuity of the earlier atomists. Although the overall structure of Epicureanism was designed to hang together and to serve its principal ethical goals, there was room for a great deal of intriguing philosophical argument concerning every aspect of the system, from the speed of atoms in a void to the origin of optical illusions. 1. Sources 2. Life 3. Physical Theory 4. Psychology and Ethics 5. Social Theory 6. The Epicurean Life Bibliography Academic Tools Other Internet Resources Related Entries 1. Sources The major source for Epicurean doctrine is Diogenes Laertius' third­century C.E. Lives of Eminent Philosophers, a compilation of information on the lives and doctrines of the philosophers of classical Greece (see “Doxography of Ancient Philosophy”). In the tenth and final book, devoted to Epicureanism, Diogenes preserves three of Epicurus' letters to his disciples, in which he presents his basic views in a concise and handy form. The Letter to Herodotus summarizes Epicurus' physical theory, the Letter to Menoeceus offers a précis of Epicurean ethics, and the Letter to Pythocles treats astronomical and meteorological matters. (There is some doubt about whether the last is by Epicurus himself or a follower, but there seems to be sufficient reason to attribute it to the founder himself.) Diogenes also quotes a collection of brief sayings, called the “Principal Beliefs” or “Principal Doctrines” (Kuriai Doxai), excerpted from the writings of Epicurus or, in some cases, of his close associates; another such collection, partially overlapping with the first, survives in https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/ 1/16 03/05/2017 Epicurus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) an independent manuscript and is conventionally called the Vatican Sayings. The purpose of both sets, like that of the Letters, was to make the core doctrines easy to remember. Diogenes also fills in topics not covered in the Letters, and provides a list of Epicurus' writings and other biographical information. Short citations of Epicurus' works appear in other writers (e.g., Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and the Greek commentators on Aristotle), often taken out of context or presented in a polemical and distorted fashion. (The standard edition of Epicurus' works in Greek is Arrighetti 1973; the fullest collection of fragments and testimonies is still Usener 1887, repr. with Italian translation, Ramelli 2002; for translations, see Bibliography: Editions, Translations, Commentaries). In addition, several works of Epicurus, including parts of his major treatise, On Nature (Peri phuseôs) — a series of lectures running to 37 papyrus rolls — have been recovered in damaged condition from the library of a villa in the town of Herculaneum, which was buried in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. The library almost certainly contained the working collection of Philodemus, an Epicurean philosopher from Syria who studied in Athens and moved to Italy in the first century B.C.E. Many of the rolls consist of Philodemus' own writings, and provide valuable information about later issues in the history of Epicureanism. One must be cautious about ascribing these views to the founder himself, although the school tended to be conservative and later thinkers embellished rather than altered Epicurus' own teachings. New editions and translations are now making these difficult texts available to a wider readership. More or less contemporary with Philodemus is Lucretius (first century B.C.E.), who composed in Latin De rerum natura (“On the Nature of Things”; the title, if it is Lucretius' own, is an adaptation of “On Nature”) in six books of hexameter verse, the meter characteristic of epic and didactic poetry. As a dedicated Epicurean, passionate to promulgate the message of the founder, Lucretius reproduced Epicurean doctrine faithfully (Sedley 1998; Clay 1983 allows Lucretius more originality). His poem concentrates principally on the physical and psychological or epistemological aspects of Epicureanism, and to a great extent omits the ethical. From a hostile point of view, Cicero rehearsed and criticized Epicurus' ideas, especially concerning ethics, in several of his philosophical works, including On Moral Ends (De finibus) and the Tusculan Disputations. Still later, in the second century C.E., another Diogenes erected a large inscription, to this day only partially excavated, in the city of Oenoanda (in southwestern Turkey), which contained the basic tenets of Epicureanism (authoritative edition by Smith 1993, but new fragments have been published subsequently; see also Gordon 1996). 2. Life “Epicurus, the son of Neocles and Chaerestrata, was an Athenian from the deme of Gargettus and the lineage of the Philaïdes, as Metrodorus says in his On Noble Families. Heraclides, among others, in his epitome of Sotion, says that he was raised in Samos, since the Athenians were given parcels of land there, but came to Athens when he was eighteen, when Xenocrates was head of the Academy and Aristotle was still in Chalcis” (where he died in 322). So begins the account by Diogenes Laertius (10.1). The dates for Epicurus' birth and first move to Athens are thus 341 B.C.E. and 323 respectively. Diogenes adds that after the death of Alexander (323), when the Athenians were expelled from Samos, Epicurus left Athens and joined his father in Colophon (in 321), on the coast of what is now Turkey. Here he studied philosophy under the tutelage of Nausiphanes, a Democritean philosopher with skeptical leanings, and author of a work called the Tripod, on which Epicurus reportedly drew for his Canon, his principal work on epistemology; in ethics, Nausiphanes substituted the term akataplêxia (“undauntability”) for Democritus' athambiê, “fearlessness,” as crucial to the good life, which invites comparison with Epicurus' ataraxia or “imperturbability,” though Epicurus is said to have denied having been influenced by him (On Nausiphanes' role in transmitting elements of Democritean doctrine to Epicurus, see Warren 2002: 160–92.) Ten years later, Epicurus moved to Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, and soon proceeded to Lampsacus on the nearby mainland; in both cities he taught and gathered followers before returning again to Athens in 307/06, where he remained until his death in 270, at the age of seventy or seventy­one. In Athens, he purchased the property that became known as the “Garden” (later used as a name for his school itself) and began to develop his own school in earnest. Diogenes reports a number of slanderous stories that were circulated by Epicurus' opponents, despite which he affirms that Epicurus was of an extraordinarily humane disposition; this was the prevailing view, shared even by hostile witnesses to Epicureanism. Diogenes also https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/ 2/16 03/05/2017 Epicurus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) records Epicurus' will (10.16–21), in which, among other things, he made provisions for the children of his friends and appointed a successor. 3. Physical Theory Epicurus held that the elementary constituents of nature are undifferentiated matter, in the form of discrete, solid and indivisible particles (“atoms”) below the threshold of perception, plus empty space, that is, the complement of matter or where matter is not (Inwood 1981, Konstan 2014; contra Sedley 1982, who argues that space, for Epicurus, is a continuous matrix extending uniformly throughout the universe, and is either occupied by matter or empty). In its broad outline, Epicurus inherited this scheme from the earlier atomists, above all Democritus. But Democritus' version had been the object of critiques by later thinkers, especially Aristotle, in part for incoherencies in the notion of an infinite void, in part for problems attaching to his idea of minima, or entities of the smallest conceivable size (see especially Physics Book 6). First, freestanding entities of minimal size could have no edges, and so no shapes, or rather would be all edge: thus, if two minima touched, they would wholly overlap.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A History of Cynicism
    A HISTORY OF CYNICISM Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com A HISTORY OF CYNICISM From Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D. by DONALD R. DUDLEY F,llow of St. John's College, Cambrid1e Htmy Fellow at Yale University firl mll METHUEN & CO. LTD. LONDON 36 Essex Street, Strand, W.C.2 Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com First published in 1937 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN Downloaded from https://www.holybooks.com PREFACE THE research of which this book is the outcome was mainly carried out at St. John's College, Cambridge, Yale University, and Edinburgh University. In the help so generously given to my work I have been no less fortunate than in the scenes in which it was pursued. I am much indebted for criticism and advice to Professor M. Rostovtseff and Professor E. R. Goodonough of Yale, to Professor A. E. Taylor of Edinburgh, to Professor F. M. Cornford of Cambridge, to Professor J. L. Stocks of Liverpool, and to Dr. W. H. Semple of Reading. I should also like to thank the electors of the Henry Fund for enabling me to visit the United States, and the College Council of St. John's for electing me to a Research Fellowship. Finally, to• the unfailing interest, advice and encouragement of Mr. M. P. Charlesworth of St. John's I owe an especial debt which I can hardly hope to repay. These acknowledgements do not exhaust the list of my obligations ; but I hope that other kindnesses have been acknowledged either in the text or privately.
    [Show full text]
  • DIOGENES of SINOPE Diogenes of Sinope (C
    DIOGENES OF SINOPE Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412‐323 BC), a contemporary of Plato and Aristotle, is considered the founder of the philosophical school of Cynicism. Concerned more with action than with words, he left no writings. What we know of his thought is what has been related to us by contempo‐ raries and later scholars. The most extensive account is from Diogenes Laertes, writing almost 500 years after Diogenes lived. LIFE OF DIOGENES OF SINOPE, THE CYNIC (404‐323 BC) RD BY DIOGENES LAERTIUS (3 CENTURY AD) Diogenes was a native of Sinope, son of Hicesius, a banker. Diocles relates that he went into exile because his father was entrusted with the money of the state and adulterated the coin‐ age. But Eubulides in his book on Diogenes says that Diogenes himself did this and was forced to leave home along with his father. Moreover Diogenes himself actually confesses in his Porde‐ lus that he adulterated the coinage. Some say that having been appointed to superintend the workmen he was persuaded by them, and that he went to Delphi or to the Delian oracle in his own city and inquired of Apollo whether he should do what he was urged to do. When the god gave him permission to alter the political currency, not understanding what this meant, he adulterated the state coinage, and when he was detected, according to some he was banished, while according to others he voluntarily quitted the city for fear of consequences. One version is that his father entrusted him with the money and that he debased it, in consequence of which the father was imprisoned and died, while the son fled, came to Delphi, and inquired, not whether he should falsify the coinage, but what he should do to gain the greatest reputation; and that then it was that he received the oracle.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity CALIFORNIA CLASSICAL STUDIES
    Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity CALIFORNIA CLASSICAL STUDIES NUMBER 7 Editorial Board Chair: Donald Mastronarde Editorial Board: Alessandro Barchiesi, Todd Hickey, Emily Mackil, Richard Martin, Robert Morstein-Marx, J. Theodore Peña, Kim Shelton California Classical Studies publishes peer-reviewed long-form scholarship with online open access and print-on-demand availability. The primary aim of the series is to disseminate basic research (editing and analysis of primary materials both textual and physical), data-heavy re- search, and highly specialized research of the kind that is either hard to place with the leading publishers in Classics or extremely expensive for libraries and individuals when produced by a leading academic publisher. In addition to promoting archaeological publications, papyrolog- ical and epigraphic studies, technical textual studies, and the like, the series will also produce selected titles of a more general profile. The startup phase of this project (2013–2017) was supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Also in the series: Number 1: Leslie Kurke, The Traffic in Praise: Pindar and the Poetics of Social Economy, 2013 Number 2: Edward Courtney, A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal, 2013 Number 3: Mark Griffith, Greek Satyr Play: Five Studies, 2015 Number 4: Mirjam Kotwick, Alexander of Aphrodisias and the Text of Aristotle’s Meta- physics, 2016 Number 5: Joey Williams, The Archaeology of Roman Surveillance in the Central Alentejo, Portugal, 2017 Number 6: Donald J. Mastronarde, Preliminary Studies on the Scholia to Euripides, 2017 Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation in Late Antiquity Olivier Dufault CALIFORNIA CLASSICAL STUDIES Berkeley, California © 2019 by Olivier Dufault.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fragments of the Poem of Parmenides
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by D-Scholarship@Pitt RESTORING PARMENIDES’ POEM: ESSAYS TOWARD A NEW ARRANGEMENT OF THE FRAGMENTS BASED ON A REASSESSMENT OF THE ORIGINAL SOURCES by Christopher John Kurfess B.A., St. John’s College, 1995 M.A., St. John’s College, 1996 M.A., University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2000 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2012 UNVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Christopher J. Kurfess It was defended on November 8, 2012 and approved by Dr. Andrew M. Miller, Professor, Department of Classics Dr. John Poulakos, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Dr. Mae J. Smethurst, Professor, Department of Classics Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Edwin D. Floyd, Professor, Department of Classics ii Copyright © by Christopher J. Kurfess 2012 iii RESTORING PARMENIDES’ POEM Christopher J. Kurfess, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2012 The history of philosophy proper, claimed Hegel, began with the poem of the Presocratic Greek philosopher Parmenides. Today, that poem is extant only in fragmentary form, the various fragments surviving as quotations, translations or paraphrases in the works of better-preserved authors of antiquity. These range from Plato, writing within a century after Parmenides’ death, to the sixth-century C.E. commentator Simplicius of Cilicia, the latest figure known to have had access to the complete poem. Since the Renaissance, students of Parmenides have relied on collections of fragments compiled by classical scholars, and since the turn of the twentieth century, Hermann Diels’ Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, through a number of editions, has remained the standard collection for Presocratic material generally and for the arrangement of Parmenides’ fragments in particular.
    [Show full text]
  • Sextus Empiricus and the Scientific Scepticism
    ENCEPHALOS 50, 62-74, 2013 SEXTUS EMPIRICUS AND THE SCIENTIFIC SCEPTI- CISM STAVROS J.BALOYANNIS* Summary philosophical books, which survived, but remained for long in obscurity, been rediscovered in the late Renaissance. Two Sextus Empiricus is the most eminent representative of these works on the title, “Adversus Mathematikus”, include of the ancient sceptisism, which is a Post-Classical, Hellenis- large number of strong arguments against the Logicians, the tic philosophy based on the criterion of life, the experience Physicists and the Ethicists. The third and most important of and the analysis of phenomena, aiming to provide a straight the books on the title “Outlines of Pyrrhonism” provides an out- and practical way of life, leading to interior peace and mental line of Pyrrhonian scepticism, incorporating at the same time tranquility, sharply opposed to a purely theoretical pursuit of his own philosophical doctrines. Sextus offers thoroughly a dogmatic philosophy. The term “sceptic” is a derivative of the general overview of scepticism, describing and explaining the noun, skepsis (σκέψις), which means thought, examination, meaning of the sceptical investigation, the value of suspen- inquiry, consideration, meditation and investigation. The scep- sion of judgment and the importance of the sceptical dialectics. tical school was connected for a long period of time with the Sextus insists that the skepticism does not accept or reject any Empirical school of physicians, who based the good medical impression and substantially does not affirm or deny anything. practice on the clinical experience rather than on the theoret- Sextus claims that appearances (φαινόμενα) are the practical ical erudition, dedicating themselves to observation, memory criteria of approaching to the truth and by the continuous inves- and continuous clinical practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Date | 6/9/19 10:06 AM Pseudo-Pythagorean Literature 73
    Philologus 2019; 163(1): 72–94 Leonid Zhmud* What is Pythagorean in the Pseudo-Pythagorean Literature? https://doi.org/10.1515/phil-2018-0003 Abstract: This paper discusses continuity between ancient Pythagoreanism and the pseudo-Pythagorean writings, which began to appear after the end of the Pythagorean school ca. 350 BC. Relying on a combination of temporal, formal and substantial criteria, I divide Pseudopythagorica into three categories: 1) early Hellenistic writings (late fourth – late second centuries BC) ascribed to Pytha- goras and his family members; 2) philosophical treatises written mostly, yet not exclusively, in pseudo-Doric from the turn of the first century BC under the names of real or fictional Pythagoreans; 3) writings attributed to Pythagoras and his relatives that continued to appear in the late Hellenistic and Imperial periods. I will argue that all three categories of pseudepigrapha contain astonishingly little that is authentically Pythagorean. Keywords: Pythagoreanism, pseudo-Pythagorean writings, Platonism, Aristote- lianism Forgery has been widespread in time and place and varied in its goals and methods, and it can easily be confused with superficially similar activities. A. Grafton Note: An earlier version of this article was presented at the colloquium “Pseudopythagorica: stratégies du faire croire dans la philosophie antique” (Paris, 28 May 2015). I would like to thank Constantinos Macris (CNRS) for his kind invitation. The final version was written during my fellowship at the IAS of Durham University and presented at the B Club, Cambridge, in Mai 2016. I am grateful to Gábor Betegh for inviting me to give a talk and to the audience for the vivid discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • Diogenes Laërtius: a Moderate Skeptic in the History of Philosophy (Book IX)∗
    Philosophy Study, April 2021, Vol. 11, No. 4, 293-302 doi: 10.17265/2159-5313/2021.04.005 D D AV I D PUBLISHING Diogenes Laërtius: A Moderate Skeptic in the History of Philosophy (Book IX)∗ Ramón Román-Alcalá University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain This paper presents the keys and reasons for Diogenes Laërtius’ alleged scepticism, based on an analysis of the general design of his work The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. I believe that it would be manifestly erroneous to seek confirmation of this scepticism solely in Book IX without taking into account the overall structure of the work. A convincing explanation is also provided of one of the most enigmatic and most studied phrases in this work. What did Diogenes mean when he said that Apollonides of Nicaea was ὁ παρ’ ἡμῶν (“one of us”)? Keywords: scepticism, Diogenes Laërtius, sextus, Pyrrho, The Lives of Philosophers The Singular Book IX of “The Lives” Diogenes Laërtius’ work Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers was already relatively well-known in antiquity, due not only to the author’s popularity but also to the singularity of the work, in which he had succeeded in faithfully characterising much of ancient historiography. Moreover, and this is important to highlight in our introduction, taking into account the structure of many of the books and sources mentioned by Diogenes, this work began a new and highly original historiographic genre, which could be called “successions”. Diogenes’ Lives of Philosophers is a singular work. It starts with an introduction focusing on the origins of philosophy (which were undoubtedly Greek), the different classifications of philosophy and philosophers.
    [Show full text]
  • The Date of Anaximenes
    The date of Anaximenes Autor(en): Kerferd, G.B. Objekttyp: Article Zeitschrift: Museum Helveticum : schweizerische Zeitschrift für klassische Altertumswissenschaft = Revue suisse pour l'étude de l'antiquité classique = Rivista svizzera di filologia classica Band (Jahr): 11 (1954) Heft 2 PDF erstellt am: 25.09.2021 Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-12471 Nutzungsbedingungen Die ETH-Bibliothek ist Anbieterin der digitalisierten Zeitschriften. Sie besitzt keine Urheberrechte an den Inhalten der Zeitschriften. Die Rechte liegen in der Regel bei den Herausgebern. Die auf der Plattform e-periodica veröffentlichten Dokumente stehen für nicht-kommerzielle Zwecke in Lehre und Forschung sowie für die private Nutzung frei zur Verfügung. Einzelne Dateien oder Ausdrucke aus diesem Angebot können zusammen mit diesen Nutzungsbedingungen und den korrekten Herkunftsbezeichnungen weitergegeben werden. Das Veröffentlichen von Bildern in Print- und Online-Publikationen ist nur mit vorheriger Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber erlaubt. Die systematische Speicherung von Teilen des elektronischen Angebots auf anderen Servern bedarf ebenfalls des schriftlichen Einverständnisses der Rechteinhaber. Haftungsausschluss Alle Angaben erfolgen ohne Gewähr für Vollständigkeit oder Richtigkeit. Es wird keine Haftung übernommen für Schäden durch die Verwendung von Informationen aus diesem Online-Angebot oder durch das Fehlen von Informationen. Dies gilt auch für Inhalte Dritter, die über dieses Angebot zugänglich sind. Ein Dienst der ETH-Bibliothek ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Schweiz, www.library.ethz.ch http://www.e-periodica.ch The Date of Anaximenes By G. B. Kerferd, Manchester The manuscripts of Diogenes Laertius II 3 have yeyevrjxai fiiv (sc. "Avatgifiivrjg), xa&ä eprjaiv 'AnoXXdöcogog xfj ejgrjxooxfj xglxrj "OXvfinidöi (Ol. 63=528-5 B.C.), ixeXevxrjoe öi negl xfjv Zägöecov äXcoaiv.
    [Show full text]
  • Pyrrhonian Skepticism in Diogenes Laertius
    SAPERE Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia Schriften der späteren Antike zu ethischen und religiösen Fragen Herausgegeben von Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Reinhard Feldmeier und Heinz-Günther Nesselrath unter der Mitarbeit von Natalia Pedrique und Andrea Villani Band XXV Pyrrhonian Skepticism in Diogenes Laertius Introduction, Text, Translation, Commentary and Interpretative Essays by Katja Maria Vogt, Richard Bett, Lorenzo Corti, Tiziano Dorandi, Christiana M. M. Olfert, Elisabeth Scharffenberger, David Sedley, and James Warren edited by Katja Maria Vogt Mohr Siebeck SAPERE is a Project of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities within the programme of the Union of the German Academies funded by the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Lower Saxony. e-ISBN PDF 978-3-16-156430-7 ISBN 978-3-16-153336-5 The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Natio nal- bibliographie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http:// dnb.dnb.de. © 2015 by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. www.mohr.de This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This ap- plies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and pro- cessing in electronic systems. This book was supervised by Heinz-Günther Nesselrath (representing the SAPERE Editors) and typeset by Magdalena Albrecht, Janjenka Szillat and Andrea Villani at the SAPERE Research Institute, Göttingen. Printed by Gulde Druck in Tübin- gen on non-aging paper and bound by Buchbinderei Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in Germany. SAPERE Greek and Latin texts of Later Antiquity (1st–4th centuries AD) have for a long time been overshadowed by those dating back to so-called ‘classi- cal’ times.
    [Show full text]
  • Democritus 8
    THREE DEMOCRITUS 8 1. His character can be seen from his writing. (DL 9.38) δηλν δεκ ακ των συγγραµµα των ις ην . 2. Men remember one’s mistakes rather than one’s successes. (fr. 265) θρωπι µεµνεαται µαλλν ητω νευ πεπιηµενων . Research into the life and work of Democritus, best known of the Greek atomists, is sadly hampered by the one-sided nature of his extant writings; a fair amount of his ethical work remains, but his scientific theories are known only from secondhand sources.1 The relationship between his work and his biography, therefore, can only partially be recovered, although the secondary sources do, in many cases, amply reveal the biographical mind at work. We begin with his early life. 94 Democritus 95 DATE, TEACHERS, AND PHILOSOPHICAL RELATIONSHIPS Democritus himself gives us some indication of his age and era. In his Lesser World System, Democritus says he was forty years younger than Anaxagoras, giving himself a birth date of about 460–57 BCE. This agrees with the Eightieth Olympiad birth date given by Apollodorus and is generally accepted.2 Democritus is almost universally regarded as a native of Abdera,3 and his father’s name is given as either Hegesistratus, Athenocritus, or Dama- sippus.4 From the biographies, we can infer that, as usual, his father was a man of wealth and influence, further said to have entertained Xerxes (DL 9.34–36). Traditionally, it was through his family friendship that Democri- tus received his early training; the biographers tell us that Xerxes left behind Magi and Chaldaeans who taught Democritus astronomy and theology.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ionian Program B
    1 THE IONIAN PROGRAM B This man [Thales] is supposed to be the originator of philosophy, and from him the Ionian school gets its name. It became the longest tradition in philosophy. (Ps.-Plutarch Placita 1.3.1) ODAY MILETUS is a mound rising above a flat plain dotted with olive trees. On the crest of the mound stands a Roman-era theater, Tand off to the east some stately marble facades line a swampy de­ pression that is the remainder of a once proud seaport on the Aegean, from which little merchant ships sailed to far-off colonies in the Black Sea, the central Mediterranean, and the Nile laden with amphorai of olive oil from the ancestors of today’s orchards. With her three harbors and a numerous progeny of daughter colonies, Miletus was the “jewel of Ionia,”1 and she counted among her citizens not only wealthy traders but also wise men whose names have long outlived their native city. For it was here that Western philosophy and science were born, in the first days of the sixth century BC. The little ships carried with their perishable car­ goes words that would echo across the Mediterranean Sea and eventually around the world. Miletus was the most illustrious of a chain of city-states dotting the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea, colonies of Greeks from the Ionian tribe, who gave the name Ionia to their coastline.2 The first prose books were written in their alphabet and dialect, and their culture combined the best of a resurgent Greek civilization, recently emerged from a dark age,3 with borrowings from Egypt and the Middle East.
    [Show full text]
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Copyright C 2016 by the Publisher Proposed Various Exercises to Assist the Novice
    pdf version of the entry Epicurus http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2016/entries/epicurus/ Epicurus from the Fall 2016 Edition of the First published Mon Jan 10, 2005; substantive revision Sun Apr 20, 2014 Stanford Encyclopedia The philosophy of Epicurus (341–270 B.C.E.) was a complete and interdependent system, involving a view of the goal of human life of Philosophy (happiness, resulting from absence of physical pain and mental disturbance), an empiricist theory of knowledge (sensations, together with the perception of pleasure and pain, are infallible criteria), a description of nature based on atomistic materialism, and a naturalistic account of evolution, from the formation of the world to the emergence of human Edward N. Zalta Uri Nodelman Colin Allen R. Lanier Anderson societies. Epicurus believed that, on the basis of a radical materialism Principal Editor Senior Editor Associate Editor Faculty Sponsor which dispensed with transcendent entities such as the Platonic Ideas or Editorial Board Forms, he could disprove the possibility of the soul's survival after death, http://plato.stanford.edu/board.html and hence the prospect of punishment in the afterlife. He regarded the Library of Congress Catalog Data unacknowledged fear of death and punishment as the primary cause of ISSN: 1095-5054 anxiety among human beings, and anxiety in turn as the source of extreme Notice: This PDF version was distributed by request to mem- and irrational desires. The elimination of the fears and corresponding bers of the Friends of the SEP Society and by courtesy to SEP desires would leave people free to pursue the pleasures, both physical and content contributors.
    [Show full text]